I was walking through the grocery store grabbing a few things before dinner, and I bumped into one of my contractors and had a nice chat, then turned around and saw a display of crackers decorated as hor d'oeuvres for holiday gatherings and realized: I am so ready for the holidays!!! Bring on the lights and gifts and socializing and music and eggnog and oh god the baking....I am so ready for it!!!!!
I realize this attitude may get me banned/cost me some friendships. I'm sorry, I can't help it.
If anyone else wants in on Round 7 of the CD Swap, Steven is putting together the list of participants now. Give notice on that thread if you want to join, no prior swapping experience necessary. The theme this time is "Soul Crush".
Oh my god, I'm crying!! I always cry when new babies come and Rowan is so beautiful, that picture of her hands is amazing! She looks very alert and totally adorable.
And that striped blanket...Angus had the same one, I think EVERY baby has the same one, and you should go ahead and steal it from the hospital like everyone else does - I still have Angus'!
She is beautiful and you look so happy with her, ether. I can tell you are in love. Congratulations!!! Yay for TC babies!
i have the worst movie playing its called knocked up. it is a trite stupid story with trite stupid references to other films with the basest moronic bullshit. that people actually think a movie like this is funny/good whatever is beyond me. its shit.
Ether, she is very cute. And I'm the kind of person who tells it like it is, sometimes to my detriment, and much more often now that I'm 'in the way.' But she is cute, not creepy like some babies are. I hope mine comes out cute. I'm sure he will.
Be sure to post how the next few nights and weeks go, I need to know that its really survivable.
Okay so I'm thinking of buying a fix-er-upper. I was told about it whilst at dinner with the lady friend aka the flipper. So I went just now and took a look, if I didn't have this presentation in a few hours I would take pics and pretty much just soak it in. More on that later
although none of this compares to the beautiful children everyone has been showing lately...but it is my little island life. I will make an offer sometime likely during the week after having a chat with the local bank
techno, that porch is fantastic!! what are the views from the site like? I imagine once you trim back a lot of the overgrown brush the house site will really open up a lot. Looks like you'll definitely have to deal with some mold issues, though... could be costly. But wow. I think I could be conned into a working vacation!! Especially if you are willing to provide some of that fresh grilled fish you make!!!
ether, your daughter is beautiful. congratulations!!!!
and sarah--take note--look how fresh and happy the mom looks! ha ha, i sincerely doubt i will look that good anywhere close to the date i eventually have a child... but it's nice to see that it's possible. :)
I concur with Orhan. You could probably succeed at twisting my arm to come down there and help out too. Especially if you serve some of that yummy looking chicken from this thread
Speaking of working on houses... I'm getting ready to stain my stair risers. I've been working for months on stripping off the old chipped white paint and sanding them. I'm quite nervous about this undertaking as I've only ever refinished furniture and that was years ago to boot. Wish me luck
hi tc, this is my once every 5 or so pages tc comment...
ok, so the house has a pond and a pool? nice! i can see some of the pattern blocks on the first image, is that where the pool is [to the right of the house in the first pic?] does that mean the pool has views of the ocean?
i think the house excites us even more because it needs renovation... oh the possibilities!
Orhan I agree...I must get that place. Pool deck has a fab view of the Caribbean sea, and any architects, tc members or anyone looking for a working vacation, is very welcome to come on down. I can promise fish and loads of beer. I will let you all know how it goes this week. And I'll take more pics.
Made a big mistake while staining by not opening the windows (D'oh!). Boy am I feeling it. Wonder how many brain cells I killed in the process. Now I'm off to speak some German with people I've never met. Should be fun, considering I've been told my German was much better when I am drunk. We'll see how it goes being slightly "high"
As for the German group... it was a meet-up group I found online. Funny thing is after only speaking German for about an hour, I'm having trouble finding my English words now. Perhaps I'll dream in German tonight. Tschuss.
Arrrgh... Some friends from another forum are visiting NYC, so we've decided to have sort of an informal get-together in the city for forum members, not unlike the occasional Archinect meet-up.
The venue of choice: TGI Friday's at Times Square on a Saturday evening.
speaking of high Tuna...much of my weekend is fuzzy.
Wonder K, the spring break visit with Tunamelt sounds fantastic...I'll make sure that the pool is operational by then. Although I think much of the house would be done by then.
I actually made arrangements with my expert carpenter for new cabinets in the kitchen/bathrooms, and work on the roof. He's now excited, says its about time i settled down.
Steven there will be lots of shouvelling (volcanic ash for the 2003 eruption) in the interim, we'll need able bodied folks for that part.
wow, if you were going all the way to nyc, why on earth would you go eat somewhere you can go to anywhere else in america?!
My boyfriends relatives do that a lot--every time they come visit here in Chicago they want to go to the Disney store on Michigan Ave. We let them have that one, but we drew the line at the Cheesecake Factory in the John Hancock. Yeesh. I think I didn't even suppress my physical shudder at that point.
I don't get it.... Sad part is, while I normally avoid Times Square like the plague, I've walked past that particular TGI Friday's a few times, and it's always packed. Four thousand restaurants in Manhattan, and people flock to the fucking TGI Friday's. And to think that I'll soon be one of them.... *shudder*
My parents are the same way. If they ever took a vacation to Italy, they'd probably head straight for the nearest Olive Garden if they could find one. It seems like an entire generation has been raised to think of the homogenized manufactured ambiance of a chain restaurant franchise as the pinnacle of fine dining.
a tonic for lb: there is (used to be?) a great little corner bar at the intersection of e vermont and e massachusetts, just down from the murat. maybe you need to spend the afternoon there?
the tgif/cheesecake factory phenomena is on of the cultural issues I just don't understand/pisses me off about the 'average' american. This acquiescence/desired mediocrity explains much of what is 'wrong' with our economy and capitalism. If the average IQ is 100 and the average person does stupid things like embracing mediocrity, that makes the average person stupid. Ok, this isn't just an american phenomena but can be found around the world.
SEEKERS OF EXCELLENCE UNITE!!!!!!
[/rant]
happy to report that my family doesn't like the cheesecake factory (the closest experience I ever had to this as a kid was going to HoJo's for ice cream).
I must bashfully admit though, that I do enjoy the key lime cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. Every other place I've tried it, always makes it too sweet. That's even including a friend that is known for her cheesecake making ability.
I do agree everything seems to be getting more and more homogenized by the day.
People like familiarity and most will stick with what they know tastes good to them. Especially if budget is an issue.
I like Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake, the food not so much.
I'm not even going to pretend to have a sophisticated palate, so when I find something I like, I order the same thing at the same place everythime. Simple minded, perhaps, but I'm royally pissed when I pay too much for food I didn't like and/or am still hungry afterwards.
Steven I don't think there will be an ash problem, some folks went to look at the roof and it has to be replaced (all of it). How are you at roofing? I can guarantee a tan when you return home...its been about 32%%d today. Yesterday was 35. Yah and some people global warming doesn't exist - sheesh
Despite the fact that I loathe TGIFriday's and Olive Garden, and that the ones on Times Square make me want to run in the other direction, I find something very comforting about that great intersection of commerce and humanity. Maybe it's the Naked Cowboy, or all of the people, or all the lights and pictures everywhere - yay light pollution :o( - but it has always felt like the center of the universe to me, and every trip back to Manhattan I find myself walking in the direction of Times Square at least once.
Plus it's always the first place to get destroyed when the apocalypse happens in the movies, so you know, that's good.
*They have limited choices and frame of reference.
*They don't like change.
OldFogey, your summary is dead on with my observations as well. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense! The boyfriend's family does *precisely* that. They're the type who would notice, and love, that there are CHICAGO road signs up in the Applebee's instead of BATON ROUGE road signs. Amazing.
I'm very glad my family is like the extreme inverse. (Which can also be very annoying... try pleasing 3 picky, gourmet palates at once! Makes you long to be able to just say, let's just go to the Macaroni Grill and y'all can shut up about my restaurant choices!)
i think a lot times people go to TGIF or the other homogenized places is that they don't have the presumed pretension that better restaurants seem to have. i however don't care whether or not the snooty waiter looks down his nose if i don't speak a foreign language, i just don't. i have been to two very good restaurants recently how did i know it was going to be good before i ate the food? there was no salt and pepper on the table, and the food was purchased from local growers.
i'm stuck at the baton rouge airport for the next 4 hours while waiting for my flight home to tampa... this jetset lifestyle isn't all that its cracked up to be... i had a meeting/building tour downtown this morning and hoped to get on stand-by for an earlier flight home... alas the 1:25 flight to houston which would get me there in time for an earlier flight to tampa was full... so here i sit trying to find a way to waste the next 4 hours... by the way, who makes you pay for wifi these days... isn't free wifi an inalienable right these days...
last night after checking into my hotel i drove around for about 30 minutes trying to find something other than thehomogenized manufactured ambiance of a chain restaurant... i drove past an outback, longhorn, chilis, mcdonalds, taco bell... the only two local restaurants that i even saw were both closed... one was out of business and one is closed on mondays... i eventually ended up at a ruby tuesdays... YIPPEE...
luckily i was able to get some good gumbo and a sandwich for lunch today at a place downtown...
thursday evening i'm off to DC for 2 days... i'm sick of hotels and airports...
Thread Central
Oh dear, I have a confession:
I was walking through the grocery store grabbing a few things before dinner, and I bumped into one of my contractors and had a nice chat, then turned around and saw a display of crackers decorated as hor d'oeuvres for holiday gatherings and realized: I am so ready for the holidays!!! Bring on the lights and gifts and socializing and music and eggnog and oh god the baking....I am so ready for it!!!!!
I realize this attitude may get me banned/cost me some friendships. I'm sorry, I can't help it.
Also, I'm going to put a notioce here:
If anyone else wants in on Round 7 of the CD Swap, Steven is putting together the list of participants now. Give notice on that thread if you want to join, no prior swapping experience necessary. The theme this time is "Soul Crush".
bring on the gifts. i'm size L.
congrats!!!
Oh my god, I'm crying!! I always cry when new babies come and Rowan is so beautiful, that picture of her hands is amazing! She looks very alert and totally adorable.
And that striped blanket...Angus had the same one, I think EVERY baby has the same one, and you should go ahead and steal it from the hospital like everyone else does - I still have Angus'!
She is beautiful and you look so happy with her, ether. I can tell you are in love. Congratulations!!! Yay for TC babies!
Ether- let us know how being a dad plays out. Congrats again!
[when did I cross the 3k mark????]
i have the worst movie playing its called knocked up. it is a trite stupid story with trite stupid references to other films with the basest moronic bullshit. that people actually think a movie like this is funny/good whatever is beyond me. its shit.
Ether, she is very cute. And I'm the kind of person who tells it like it is, sometimes to my detriment, and much more often now that I'm 'in the way.' But she is cute, not creepy like some babies are. I hope mine comes out cute. I'm sure he will.
Be sure to post how the next few nights and weeks go, I need to know that its really survivable.
ether - congrats, beautiful baby girl. You must be so proud.
Okay so I'm thinking of buying a fix-er-upper. I was told about it whilst at dinner with the lady friend aka the flipper. So I went just now and took a look, if I didn't have this presentation in a few hours I would take pics and pretty much just soak it in. More on that later
Many congrats ether on your new family addition. Great photos.
I posted an image of the site for the new town here
If you would like to go directly to the image
it is a stitch of a few images as you'll see and meant to be part of a 270%%d tour of the area.
That's quite a gorgeous view of the ocean Techno. Any more thoughts on the house?
here's a small flickr set of the house
although none of this compares to the beautiful children everyone has been showing lately...but it is my little island life. I will make an offer sometime likely during the week after having a chat with the local bank
techno, if you...... oooof. forget it... you... must.... get... that ...place...!!!
nice! How exciting.....and fixing up a place is as close as you get to having a kid.
It probably wouldn't be difficult in such an exotic locale to con some of your archinect buddies into coming for a "working vacation"!
techno, that porch is fantastic!! what are the views from the site like? I imagine once you trim back a lot of the overgrown brush the house site will really open up a lot. Looks like you'll definitely have to deal with some mold issues, though... could be costly. But wow. I think I could be conned into a working vacation!! Especially if you are willing to provide some of that fresh grilled fish you make!!!
ether, your daughter is beautiful. congratulations!!!!
and sarah--take note--look how fresh and happy the mom looks! ha ha, i sincerely doubt i will look that good anywhere close to the date i eventually have a child... but it's nice to see that it's possible. :)
I concur with Orhan. You could probably succeed at twisting my arm to come down there and help out too. Especially if you serve some of that yummy looking chicken from this thread
Speaking of working on houses... I'm getting ready to stain my stair risers. I've been working for months on stripping off the old chipped white paint and sanding them. I'm quite nervous about this undertaking as I've only ever refinished furniture and that was years ago to boot. Wish me luck
hi tc, this is my once every 5 or so pages tc comment...
ok, so the house has a pond and a pool? nice! i can see some of the pattern blocks on the first image, is that where the pool is [to the right of the house in the first pic?] does that mean the pool has views of the ocean?
i think the house excites us even more because it needs renovation... oh the possibilities!
Orhan I agree...I must get that place. Pool deck has a fab view of the Caribbean sea, and any architects, tc members or anyone looking for a working vacation, is very welcome to come on down. I can promise fish and loads of beer. I will let you all know how it goes this week. And I'll take more pics.
when's the housewarming? i gotta get plane tix!
Ooooh Steven that's a fantabulous idea.
Made a big mistake while staining by not opening the windows (D'oh!). Boy am I feeling it. Wonder how many brain cells I killed in the process. Now I'm off to speak some German with people I've never met. Should be fun, considering I've been told my German was much better when I am drunk. We'll see how it goes being slightly "high"
Oooh I want to go on a working vacation to Montserrat!!! tunamelt, maybe we should rethink our Spring Break plans!!!! What's everybody doing March 18?
Where are you meeting German people, btw? What's going on back there?
ether the baby is beautiful and I concur on the comment about the "hands" picture. Gorgeous! Well done!
I'm Montserrat-mountains green with envy at that house, techno!
HA! WonderK, I was having the exact same thoughts you were. We can drive the West some other day ;-).
As for the German group... it was a meet-up group I found online. Funny thing is after only speaking German for about an hour, I'm having trouble finding my English words now. Perhaps I'll dream in German tonight. Tschuss.
Arrrgh... Some friends from another forum are visiting NYC, so we've decided to have sort of an informal get-together in the city for forum members, not unlike the occasional Archinect meet-up.
The venue of choice: TGI Friday's at Times Square on a Saturday evening.
(bangs head against wall)
In other news, the weekend is over.
speaking of high Tuna...much of my weekend is fuzzy.
Wonder K, the spring break visit with Tunamelt sounds fantastic...I'll make sure that the pool is operational by then. Although I think much of the house would be done by then.
I actually made arrangements with my expert carpenter for new cabinets in the kitchen/bathrooms, and work on the roof. He's now excited, says its about time i settled down.
Steven there will be lots of shouvelling (volcanic ash for the 2003 eruption) in the interim, we'll need able bodied folks for that part.
LiG, you crack me up!
hm. if i'm shoveling ash, i'm not buying the plane ticket.
and who said i was able-bodied? my back hurts this morning. ; )
Of all the places to meet in New York, they chose TGIFridays? How sad. I think I'd be banging my head up against the wall too.
ditto. too funny, lig.
wow, if you were going all the way to nyc, why on earth would you go eat somewhere you can go to anywhere else in america?!
My boyfriends relatives do that a lot--every time they come visit here in Chicago they want to go to the Disney store on Michigan Ave. We let them have that one, but we drew the line at the Cheesecake Factory in the John Hancock. Yeesh. I think I didn't even suppress my physical shudder at that point.
I don't get it.... Sad part is, while I normally avoid Times Square like the plague, I've walked past that particular TGI Friday's a few times, and it's always packed. Four thousand restaurants in Manhattan, and people flock to the fucking TGI Friday's. And to think that I'll soon be one of them.... *shudder*
My parents are the same way. If they ever took a vacation to Italy, they'd probably head straight for the nearest Olive Garden if they could find one. It seems like an entire generation has been raised to think of the homogenized manufactured ambiance of a chain restaurant franchise as the pinnacle of fine dining.
Yeah, that about sums up Indianapolis.
(lays head on desk and cries)
a tonic for lb: there is (used to be?) a great little corner bar at the intersection of e vermont and e massachusetts, just down from the murat. maybe you need to spend the afternoon there?
the tgif/cheesecake factory phenomena is on of the cultural issues I just don't understand/pisses me off about the 'average' american. This acquiescence/desired mediocrity explains much of what is 'wrong' with our economy and capitalism. If the average IQ is 100 and the average person does stupid things like embracing mediocrity, that makes the average person stupid. Ok, this isn't just an american phenomena but can be found around the world.
SEEKERS OF EXCELLENCE UNITE!!!!!!
[/rant]
happy to report that my family doesn't like the cheesecake factory (the closest experience I ever had to this as a kid was going to HoJo's for ice cream).
I must bashfully admit though, that I do enjoy the key lime cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. Every other place I've tried it, always makes it too sweet. That's even including a friend that is known for her cheesecake making ability.
I do agree everything seems to be getting more and more homogenized by the day.
People like familiarity and most will stick with what they know tastes good to them. Especially if budget is an issue.
I like Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake, the food not so much.
I'm not even going to pretend to have a sophisticated palate, so when I find something I like, I order the same thing at the same place everythime. Simple minded, perhaps, but I'm royally pissed when I pay too much for food I didn't like and/or am still hungry afterwards.
Steven I don't think there will be an ash problem, some folks went to look at the roof and it has to be replaced (all of it). How are you at roofing? I can guarantee a tan when you return home...its been about 32%%d today. Yesterday was 35. Yah and some people global warming doesn't exist - sheesh
Despite the fact that I loathe TGIFriday's and Olive Garden, and that the ones on Times Square make me want to run in the other direction, I find something very comforting about that great intersection of commerce and humanity. Maybe it's the Naked Cowboy, or all of the people, or all the lights and pictures everywhere - yay light pollution :o( - but it has always felt like the center of the universe to me, and every trip back to Manhattan I find myself walking in the direction of Times Square at least once.
Plus it's always the first place to get destroyed when the apocalypse happens in the movies, so you know, that's good.
*They don't like change.
OldFogey, your summary is dead on with my observations as well. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense! The boyfriend's family does *precisely* that. They're the type who would notice, and love, that there are CHICAGO road signs up in the Applebee's instead of BATON ROUGE road signs. Amazing.
I'm very glad my family is like the extreme inverse. (Which can also be very annoying... try pleasing 3 picky, gourmet palates at once! Makes you long to be able to just say, let's just go to the Macaroni Grill and y'all can shut up about my restaurant choices!)
i think a lot times people go to TGIF or the other homogenized places is that they don't have the presumed pretension that better restaurants seem to have. i however don't care whether or not the snooty waiter looks down his nose if i don't speak a foreign language, i just don't. i have been to two very good restaurants recently how did i know it was going to be good before i ate the food? there was no salt and pepper on the table, and the food was purchased from local growers.
I think people go to them because they are predictable.
Since it is now on amazon, I can announce to the archinect community that I'm getting published!
in the book, I got an essay of Owens Lake thanks to Kazys, more to follow...
ok, back to our regular scheduled program of trashing lowbow homogenized american culture.
treekiller - wow!
congrats 'killa... i can't wait to see it...
i'm stuck at the baton rouge airport for the next 4 hours while waiting for my flight home to tampa... this jetset lifestyle isn't all that its cracked up to be... i had a meeting/building tour downtown this morning and hoped to get on stand-by for an earlier flight home... alas the 1:25 flight to houston which would get me there in time for an earlier flight to tampa was full... so here i sit trying to find a way to waste the next 4 hours... by the way, who makes you pay for wifi these days... isn't free wifi an inalienable right these days...
last night after checking into my hotel i drove around for about 30 minutes trying to find something other than thehomogenized manufactured ambiance of a chain restaurant... i drove past an outback, longhorn, chilis, mcdonalds, taco bell... the only two local restaurants that i even saw were both closed... one was out of business and one is closed on mondays... i eventually ended up at a ruby tuesdays... YIPPEE...
luckily i was able to get some good gumbo and a sandwich for lunch today at a place downtown...
thursday evening i'm off to DC for 2 days... i'm sick of hotels and airports...
this place should be renamed "snob central"
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